10 years ago this month, February 2010, I was unemployed and kicking around the house attempting to learn to sing. One day, the beginning of a song fell out. Just arrived. I took some time fleshing it out, moving it from guitar to piano, etc, and it seemed to have legs. I called it “Questions.” When I found myself at a dinner party in Ireland at the end of 2011, put on the spot and asked to sing, it was the song I chose. He’d called me on stage to play guitar before, but it was the first time I sang in front of Glen Hansard. The support I received that night from those present affected me profoundly. It’d be years before I was fully ready to accept the singer/songwriter role of the band, but the seeds were planted.
Fast forward to February 2017. I’d just put the final vocal down for our first EP as Xs & ARROWs (the first release, after all our years making music as EXIT, to feature my songs and vocals), and it was for “Questions.” I knew the song needed some harmonies. Coincidentally - if you believe in such things - Glen happened to be in LA. I asked if he’d be game. It took some organizing, but our producer/engineer and all-around amazing friend, Jeff Gross, built a mobile studio (!) and the two of us went to meet up with Glen.
The way he committed to this song he’d never heard — well, forgotten he’d ever heard — astounded me. He stacked layer after layer of his voice on the choruses, at one point screaming a note at the very top of his range. I found myself laughing in disbelief and awe. (I’ve also laughed at funerals.) If I wasn’t sure already, when he then leaned in to match the intimacy in the beginning verse, I knew we’d captured something special.
Check out those isolated vocals:
57 Likes, 9 Comments - Xs & ARROWs (@xsandarrows) on Instagram: "Found this clip from the mixing process of Questions! Just main vocal, acoustic guitar, bass, and..."
I’m still unspeakably grateful for how all of this went down, for this song that still means a lot to me to have this magic forever be a part of it. On top of that, for it also have received radio play, including on my favourite station, 88.5 FM.
And because I love the circular nature of time: on this, the 27th of February, exactly three years since those vocals were recorded, I’m heading to Jeff’s studio to put some finishing touches on the next project. 🤘